Tag: iOS

Earlier today, Samsung announced that it has managed to sell more than 30 million units of the Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II worldwide. The company also stated that the Galaxy S II has managed to sell more than 10 million units in just 5 months.

Now, Apple has just released a press release announcing that they have managed to sell more than 4 million units of the iPhone 4S, in just three days after its launch on October 14. Yes, that’s a whopping 4 million units! The handset is available only in selected regions of the world including the U.S, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K, and has still managed to achieve the 4 million sales figures.

This is the same phone, which disappointed many people when it was announced. If seen from the naked eye, the iPhone 4 and the 4S are exactly the same, but internally the later packs some serious changes including a blazing fast A5 chip, 8MP camera, Siri and world-roaming capabilities.

Before all Apple fanboys start comparing the sales figure of iPhone 4S to the Samsung Galaxy S II, they should remember that there are many other Android handsets which people buy. The iPhone 4S is the only handset running iOS5, while in the Android eco-system, there are nearly 10 dual-core powered handsets, available in different shapes and sizes, with or without 4G LTE support etc. A fair comparison is only possible if the sales figures of all the high-end Android handsets are collectively compared against the iPhone 4S sales figure.

First off, notifications will not pop up like it did in iOS4 and earlier. They will be displayed more subtly on the lock screen as well as when you are logged into the device. Secondly, notifications will not popup when you are within an application or playing a game (this used to be quite annoying).

Last but not the least, all notifications will be clubbed together and will be available through a single swipe from the top to bottom. To access your notifications, you will have to swipe your finger from the top of the screen and drag it down.

Please note that the notification center is invisible. To access it just swipe your finger from top to bottom and it should display the Notification center where you can view all the notifications and take action on them.

To hide the notification center, just drag the tiles back up as shown in the image above and the notification center should be hidden. You can display and hide the notification center in any app you are using. This makes it really useful, because you can check your emails even while you are playing games.

How did you like the new notification system in iOS5? Is it good or bad?

If you are unsure on how to update your device to iOS 5 here are the simple steps to update to the latest OS from Apple.

How To Update to iOS 5 Through iTunes

Step 1: Connect your device to iTunes using the USB cable.

Step 2: Once iTunes has detected your device, click on the device name in the left hand menu and click on the “Check for Update” in the device description box.

Step 3: Apple will show you a popup message as seen above if an update for your device is available. Click on the “Download and Update” button.

Step 4: Apple will download the iOS 5 update and install it on your device. It is important that you DO NOT disconnect the device from the computer during the process. It is also recommended to keep your computer plugged in to the power outlet during the process.

That’s it. The process might take around 10-30 minutes depending on how long it takes to download the update to your computer and install it. Once iOS 5 is installed, iTunes will sync your device and you can use it again.

How To Update to iOS 5 Manually

In some cases, the iTunes update process might not work for you for several reasons. In those cases, you can also update your device to iOS 5 manually. Here are the steps to manually update your device to iOS 5.

The much awaited iOS5 update for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G/4G, and iPad 1/2. iDevice owners can download and install the update using the latest version of iTunes (v10.5).

Alternatively, iDevice owners can directly download the update from Apple’s server, and then install it manually using iTunes. iPod Touch 3G owners can download iOS5 from here, while 4th generation iPod Touch owners can download iOS5 from here.

AT&T (GSM) iPhone 4 owners can download iOS5 from here, and Verizon’s iPhone 4 customer should head over to this link. iPhone 3GS owners can download the needed IPSW from here. iPad 1 and iPad 2(GSM) owners, can download iOS5 from here and here respectively. iPad 2 Wi-Fi and CDMA owners can download the iOS5 IPSW file from here and here. Apple also released iOS 4.4 for the Apple TV 2G which can be downloaded from here.

Before downloading the iOS5 IPSW file, users should make sure that they are on a fast and stable internet connection since each IPSW file is >700MB in size.

October 12th is here, and as stated by Apple, iOS5 is now available for download for iOS device owners. iOS5 was initially announced by Apple at WWDC 2011, along with Mac OS X Lion.

This new version of iOS5 is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G/4G and the iPad 1/2. Users need to make sure that they are rocking the latest version of iTunes (v10.5) released by Apple, otherwise they won’t be able to update their device to iOS5.

iOS5 includes many new features including an over-hauled notification system, iMessage, enhanced Reminders and Camera app, Twitter integration, upgraded Safari with new features, Wireless syncing and much more. Overall, iOS5 contains more than 200 new features! Interested readers can find all the changes and features in iOS5 here.

Post iOS5, iDevice owners will not have to use iTunes to update their iOS version, since iOS5 adds support for OTA updates. This feature will definitely please a lot of users where high-speed unlimited internet connection is still not available.

It will be interesting to see whether Siri, Apple’s voice recognition feature, makes it to the iPhone 4 or remains an iPhone 4S exclusive.

Let’s face it, Apple started and hyped the entire ‘app metaphor’. They made it important to have a centralized distribution center for software and bundle it into an ecosystem — where multiple layers of hardware and software interact and have clearly defined relationships. With the not-so-recent push to “web technologies”, browsers are becoming the dashboard for data and dedicated ‘apps’ are taking the back-burner. We’ve been slowly moving away from using a specific source to get specific information. This is where voice control comes into play.

Voice control has been around for years. Everybody knows about Nuance, Windows Voice Command and the Mac OS text-to-speech widget, yet they have an extremely limited scenario for usage. People use voice control on their mobile devices for simple tasks like dictation, music control or calling people. Siri on is going to change this. Although it was available in the App Store previously, now that Siri is integrated into iOS5, things are going to be different.

I’ll say the majority of mobile usage can be separated into 2 streams; either you’re giving information, or you’re getting information. Sending emails, taking pictures or replying to text messages, falls under giving. Browsing the web, listening to music/podcasts or using navigation software, falls under getting.

The purpose of Siri is to abstract both of these activities into a single method of interaction. It’s appstraction! Current smartphones owners have learned to launch apps to complete tasks. It requires active thought in order to do so. I want the weather, so naturally I am going to open a weather app. I want to set an alarm for tomorrow, so I’ll open the alarm/clock app. There is an active thought, a solution to the thought and then physical interaction with the mobile device begins. It’s an extremely recently-learned response. Speech, however, isn’t. Most of us have been talking since we were at least 3.

Speech is an immediate and direct subset to thought. It’s the next easiest thing to do — ask a question, get an answer. Using speech to get and give information is inherent to humans. It’s intuitive. It’s fast and it’s (usually) straight forward. If there’s one thing that Apple has been able to do, it’s provide relatively intuitive interfaces and experiences, on a consistent basis. Consistency is key.

Most people are lambasting Siri because they don’t want to talk to their phones. Voice usage is down, data usage is up. We know you don’t want to talk to people, let alone your phone. Stop trying to imagine yourself in a crowded subway station or mall, yelling at your phone in order to dictate an e-mail. You can still type it out on the horrid virtual keyboard. Now imagine you’re in bed and you forget to set an alarm. Don’t lift the glaring screen to your face, tap an icon, fat-finger the input to 7 AM and then put it back down. Lean over, press the home button and say “Wake me up at 7 AM”. Roll over and go to sleep. You didn’t even open your eyes.

I know change is hard. You want to interact with your phone. You want to hold and look at your phone. You want to swipe and flick through the interface on your phone. Except when you don’t want to and you simply want to get something done. Siri simply enhances your ability to reduce the amount of interactions it takes to get something done. Most consumers use technology because it betters their life. Siri will drastically reduce complications you have with your iPhone, if you want it to.

Along with the new Cards app, and the slightly updated iPod line-up, the fruit named company also announced its next-generation iPhone the iPhone 4S.

The new iPhone sports the powerful A5 chip, which powers the iPad 2. There is a dual-core Cortex A9 processor inside, which is up to 2X powerful than its predecessor. The PowerVR SGX543MP GPU is up to 7x times faster than the GPU find inside the A4 chip.

Apple also emphasized on the battery life of the iPhone 4S. Apple quotes up to 8 hours of talk time on 3G, which increases to a whopping 14 hours on 2G. The battery will last for 6 hours while browsing on 3G, which increases to 9 hours on Wi-Fi. The new iPhone 4S is also capable of playing back videos for up to 10 hours, or continuously pump out music for a staggering 40 hours. Unlike the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S is a world-phone. This means there will be a single iPhone this year, for Verizon, AT&T and Sprint

The iPhone 4S also sports an updated 8MP camera, which has a backside illuminated CMOS sensor. This means better low-light pictures, which allow for up to 73% more light to pass through. There is also a Hybrid IR filter, better color accuracy and more color uniformity. The aperture size of the camera lens f/2.4 and it has a five-element lens with 30% more sharpness.

There is also a new custom designed ISP from Apple, which will enable iPhone 4S owners to take pictures in an instant, and have other features like face-detection and auto-white balance. Thanks to the dual-core processor, the new iPhone 4S is also capable of recording videos in Full HD (1080p) resolution. There is also real-time video image stabilization, which is a first for a phone along with real-time temporal noise reduction.

The new iPhone also has AirPlay Mirrioring, along with Wired Mirrioring. The iPhone 4S will also have a new voice recognition feature, Siri. Readers can read more about Siri here.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S begins from 7th October, and it will be available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K, France, Germany and Japan. The 16GB iPhone 4S will be cost $199, while the 32GB and 64GB variant will cost $299 and $399 respectively.

In the United States, the iPhone 4S will be available on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint! The handset will hit the retail stores on October 14th.

Before announcing the new iPhone, Apple announced a new updated version of iPod Nano. The new iPod Nano looks similar to its predecessor, and sports the same compact design with a multi-touch display.

The new Nano has some improvements though. It sports a Pedometer, which allows it to track a user’s walks and running/jogging session. There are also some UI enhancements to make it easier to navigate.

Other than that, there are 16 new clock designs. Oh! There is also FM Radio for the people who still care about it. The new Nano from Apple is also their cheapest Nano until date, with the 8GB version coming in at $129, and the 16GB version costing $149.

The Fruit named company also announced an updated model of the iPod Touch. Compared to the 4th gen Touch, the new Touch is slimmer and has a Retina Display. The new Touch will also have a front-facing camera for FaceTime with a camera at the back which is capable of recording HD videos. The new iPod Touch will run on iOS5, with all its new features including iCloud and iMessage.

The new iPod Touch will be available beginning from October 12, with the 8GB version coming in at $199 and the top-end 64GB version costs $399. The 32GB version costs $299.

eBay India has been working on extending their reach to mobile internet users in India. After launching a mobile website at m.ebay.in, eBay has been releasing apps for all major mobile platforms in the Indian market.

With the recent announcement of eBay.in’s Android app, which is releasing in the next week, it is covering grounds on one of the popular smartphone platforms. (UPDATE: The Android app is live here)

An iPhone/iOS app is already available and can be downloaded from iTunes here.

There is also an app for Nokia phones, specially customized for C2-02 and C2-03. The app is coming soon and would be made available in Nokia Ovi Suite and will be pre-loaded in those phones.

For non-smartphone users, ebay.in already has a mobile website which works on any mobile browser: m.ebay.in.

The other two smartphone platforms – BlackBerry and Windows Phone – have been left out as of now. While Windows Phone does not have enough penetration in India to (may be) justify development costs (Although, there is a nice Windows Phone app from eBay US in the Marketplace already), it is surprising that eBay has left BlackBerry users out in the cold.

Interestingly, eBay also serves mobile users who do not have Internet on their mobile devices. The eBay SMS Pricecheck’ feature allows you to find the best deals via SMS. All you need to do is to SMS EBAY’ <keyword> to 9223892238. Note that this facility has been affected by the latest TRAI guidelines, and you would need to enable partial DND to use the service.

Skype users on iOS devices should be on the look out for malicious users who intend on stealing their address book.

A vulnerability affecting Skype 3.01 on iOS devices, including the iPod Touch and iPhone, gives an attacker the ability to secretly upload the entire contents of your address book. The hole is due to a non-validated input field in the client, instead of the contents being displayed to the user, they are executed. Coupling XSS with sandbox permissions that do not allow for fine-tuned access control within apps, provides a way for an attacker to steal the contents of an unsuspecting user’s address book.

Skype has been criticised numerous times over identical vulnerabilities in their desktop software, that allowed for remote code to be executed on a victim’s computer. The flaw is one that Skype has had reported numerous times, fixed numerous times, yet they have not completely audited the applications before release.

Phil has detailed the attack performed against an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.5 and has indicated that the vulnerability was reported to Skype over a month ago. Hopefully a fix is in the works, but more importantly, hopefully Skype will perform a full check instead of simply throwing input sanitising on the vulnerable text field.